This Is My Only Political Poem Make The Most Of It/Cruel Practices Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

the poor are made to pay for the benefits from the government

through scorn and mockery and condescension and the blame blame game

this is the platform of the Republican Party

which is supposedly Christian but seeks to practice something else

balancing the nation's debt

on the bones of the poor

I am not Republican anymore

I know that these are not the benefits from the Lord

sometimes hypocricy is the only thing God has left to work with on earth

these are cruel practices

I cannot condone them

I am poor myself I know how hard I worked

I know I didnt shirk I showed love in my work

I did not take money for doing nothing

when asked to do something I did more

to show love, to show I do not believe in money

I believe in love

I know some people told lies about me

about many others as well

I know I spoke from my conscience

I know I risked everything

not to perjure myself

I know there are cruel practices

but not in the Lord

I know the Lord knows the cruel practices

and is not fooled

and can provide even through those who are cruel

because they still somehow must be seen as kind

those blind forever leading the blind

leveraging their leverages

taking every perk in the book for themselves

making a laughingstock of the poor

a scapegoat, a figure of righteous fun

and I am not Republican anymore

nor Democrat

because you cry life when you really mean death

nor saint

but I know cruel practices when I see them

and God, I feel them

where people are cut from jobs

and they did nothing wrong

where people are cut from jobs

where people are never hired

and they did nothing wrong

and they did nothing wrong

and no one cries aloud

when they fall like doves, like doves in the cold

from the silvery branches

but God hears them plummet.

and is the saving arm.

oh God, be with the merciful

oh Christ, be with the merciful

oh Lord, be with the merciful

Forever.

in Heaven it will not be this way

in Heaven it will not be this way

in Heaven it will not be this way

Forever.

mary angela douglas 3 june 2023